i. have their sentences slashed in bahrain but human rights campaigners are still unhappy his we investigate why the gulf kingdom hasn't been able to stop the regime protests after almost two years of unrest plus the syrian government suffers a further setback as another high profile figure defects this is the regime and rebel accusations over the shelling of civilians. in the city u.k. prepares for a recession free in the northeast of the country financial gloom has taken its toll on people's health and that patients with the government.

hello good to have you company this is r.t. live from moscow with me. now bahrain has cut prison sentences for dozens of pro-reform demonstrate is that took part in mass rallies last year but the move has failed to satisfy human rights groups who are calling on the country to free all jailed activists the gulf states been cracking down on anti regime protesters for nearly two years killing dozens and arresting thousands rights organizations demand the nation stop the use of tear gas and torture interrogations but campaigners say bahrain's on a slippery slope to a sunni dictatorship artie's election now looks at the struggle between the government and the opposition and who could benefit from it. when it came to

supporting calls for democracy in middle eastern and north african. sponsored violence leaders of the west were vocally critical from our graphic has lost legitimacy to lead and he must leave one. takes that will be for this dreadful regime but when scenes of violent clashes between riot police and reform campaign restrain from bahrain the definition of democracy shifted and there was a suspiciously muted response. in the summer of the us state department came up with a statement expressing its concerns over the human rights situation and alleged torture in bahrain this was only several months after washington had restarted weapons sales to this gulf state. it is claimed that the weaponry is defensive but hardly anyone in the opposition believes that dissenters in bahrain have been directing anger at their government for months but now stop arming the killers is a message they are more often sending out to the west somehow the brain blood is

worthless and the libyan blood is more important it's just booklet tickler stand so here youssif often travels to europe to direct attention to what he believes to be brutal repression in his country he and others like him have managed to alert human rights organizations but that's as far as it goes they go. clinton made a statement about. human rights situation in. one protester was killed you know and show you that there is no impact on the ground we are a victim because we live in a country they condemn the violence committed by the bahraini government against the peaceful protests that and beheading but that is still continuing for decades bahrain has been one of washington's closest allies in the gulf its naval base houses the u.s. fifth fleet and six thousand troops the seemingly irreversible decision made

decades ago despite a growing anti-american mood among some of bahrain's neighbors anything happens the bush era plan or any of the other plans that there are allegations of a nuclear weapon being built we are very close to all of those sites and we have to make the right decision in preventing any kind of catastrophe coming here we are or are not capable of doing that and that's why we turn to our friends and allies and officials firmly deny that washington plays a decisive role in preventing any revolution happening in bahrain but even the bahraini government's information minister. be playing a double game. i think the iranian opposition is a key ally of the us leader of the opposition l.a. of the us leader of the opposition and that with foreign embassies in bahrain we can leak some of the old many documents proving that if this is true then washington sitting comfortably it can quickly switch sides if for instance manami

refuses to accommodate the american fleet any further but for now the opposition in bahrain is left to wonder as to why calls to support democracy from some are less worthy of attention than others like see russia ski r.t. reporting from the kingdom of bahrain. the single pictures that they are distributing on you tube they cannot be verified or the point has been made by the russian foreign ministry that this was a group that relies on some two people and so these kind of reports need to be

taken with a pinch of salt and we constantly hear reports coming its side accusing the other of perpetrating calamities indeed what we've witnessing happening in syria is a media war is a misinformation more that is increasingly difficult to verify been hearing now for several days the rebel fighters in syria claiming that assad's forces are using chemical weapons on them what they saying is that the injuries that civilians are coming forward with injuries that do point to some kind of exposure to a poisonous gas that they're consistent with those kind of injuries the fact is though that they need to be a lot of question marks around this now we all know that israel is no friend of syria but we are hearing from the israeli vice prime minister who was casting doubt over these claims by the group of. moshe ya'alon the israeli vice prime minister sort of this is not the first time that there has been such claims made by rebel

fighters and he has made the point that the opposition in syria has a vested interest in making such claims as a way of getting foreign military intervention he also says that there is no proof for any kind of confirmation that indeed assad's forces are using chemical weapons now the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has also made the point that the chemical weaponry within syria is been contained we have been receiving reports that it has moved to two locations what we witnessing again here is the continuation of this misinformation war the fighting in syria continues to intensify we're likely to continue to fear such kind of reports in the coming days and certainly we will do our best to try and verify the censors. now after stepping on the road to recovery the u.k. is preparing to begin the new year recession free but in the northeast one of britain's poorest regions the financial downturn and widespread unemployment has had a potentially devastating effect on people's mental health according to

a recent report the region has almost three times the rate of self harm and attempted suicide as london r.t. sarah firth reports. as the old saying in pressing gaze it's grim no it's a bit searching of life in some of the nations of the church and of life recessions hit the heart is recessions hit the heart it's been in the northeast. recession and that is right. here i mean you know the very people who are living on the poverty line trade union leader about scott's furious with the government's decision to close sunderland's rentboy factory it's a government venture that began back in the nine hundred forty s. to provide employment the people with disabilities two weeks before christmas the government announced that they were going to close the package in factories and it leaves a very bleak uncertain future for disabled workers killa stops was laid off from

another rempel a factory back in april and accuses the government of forcing people out of paid jobs and on to a life of welfare we were told in the week before we left the factory. jobs. yeah in fact just four people from his old factory found a job it's not the first time the northern workers have felt the firm hand of a conservative government back in the one nine hundred eighty s. and the miners' strike and the margaret thatcher became a symbol of a divided nation this mining village in the living museum in the northeast gives us a snapshot of the past three decades since margaret thatcher and her conservative government crushed the miners' unions the impact that her policies had on the north east was extreme and long felt and even today there are many people who still have

a deep mistrust of the conservative government the conservatives reputation up here is one that's hard to shake and it makes it hard for them to get a fair hearing on any plans to regenerate so to find out more we decided it was time to pay a visit to number ten i was shocked at the level of understanding on the conservative benches of how people who live in. the northeast. very often and i think they have a completely different view of how people's lives are but government accused of not understanding the north but isn't that you're job to represent the things to be a fair bit of bickering that goes on among northern and. well i mean having an accent in the house of commons you know i've got some docs are quite happy about this and accent but that sort of you get sneers when you have an accent when you speak in the commons from the government benches so that in itself is just an

example of how how the mismatch between the two sides of the government insists it's treating grace in the area seriously and his earmarks money thing infrastructure projects targeting the northeast in particular but a legacy of let downs has left many northerners less than and see what. the government this is going auburn this is not. it's a complete shambles so all in it together or a nation divided one thing seems certain that with many predicting an increase in unemployment and a triple dip recession for the way the challenges of the year ahead looks to be testing times for everyone so r.t. sandland. just ahead in the program we continue with our end of year review today. back at the launch of the exclusive interview show hosted by the world's most

wanted whistleblower sarge. if you're from my generation or younger and you were born into the one percent that i have a lot of college debt i sure do you know the deal used to be that you paid a significant amount for education but in turn that gave you a much higher salary later but now the system works in reverse many young americans studied very hard to not make any money at all around nine percent of americans with student loans have defaulted and at least nine but maybe up to eighteen percent are ninety days late with their payments given the situation the people at u.c. berkeley were nice enough to give away a million dollars in scholarships for everyone everyone that's an illegal immigrant yeah that's right if you're born in america then pay to jump the border and enjoy

the red carpet education treatment the people who will be getting the scholarships are mostly the children of illegal immigrants who spent many of their formative years in america and yeah i could see the logic that could be hard for them to get an education when the when they aren't citizens but they came into the country illegally it isn't taxpayers jobs to help them but wait berkeley it's a private institution so i guess they can give out the money to whoever they want whenever they want however they want but berkeley management if you're watching this i would really appreciate if you chose some financial mercy to american citizens it isn't like they don't need the help but that's just my opinion. and this is free cretaceous free storage. free risk free. free.

download free broadcast quality video for your media projects a free video down to r.t. dot com. i. think i.

would be soon which will brighten. song from fans to impression. start on t.v. dot com. hello welcome back the friend jen busy in the central african republic has been attacked by protesters urging paris to intervene to stop a rebel advance and surgeons reportedly control vast parts of the country and are only seventy five kilometers away from the capital the u.n. has ordered it started out of the country due to be on rest. of the executive intelligence review magazine believes france they will only worsen matters if it intervenes. these developments do not occur overnight this is been brewing for years the french are playing

a very bad role and if they give become militarily again in the central african republic that's not going to be healthy for our country. and saudis brown i think the french have a right to their embassy but beyond that if they become. it's not going to be helpful to the central african republic or any of the neighboring countries of the c.l.r. what's going on there is what's been going on in most of the countries in the region which is that you have very unstable governments these countries have never become sovereign the colonial powers france and to be required power grid have kept their finger on the resources of these countries and they basically have never allowed these countries to grow for governor wins and they would develop the country for the people who are canonically a quick look now at the news making headlines egypt's president has a claim the new constitution as a new dawn for his country and his address to the nation after signing the face of

a disputed charter into law mohamed morsi also claimed it guarantees social freedom and paves the way for democracy critics of the constitution say it imposes elements assure our law while ignoring the rights of women and minority minorities the islamist backdraft was approved by some sixty three percent of egyptians in a referendum which the opposition claims saw massive fraud. of sunni iraqis block the country's main trade route to neighboring syria and jordan or wednesday demonstrators were demanding equal rights accusing the led government of leading the country into sectarian conflicts the mass protests erupted last week following the arrest of ten bodyguards of a senior official. los angeles police claim a gun buyback event in the city saw sixteen hundred firearms handed in on wednesday as people formed long lines to trade their weapons for free groceries is difficult but supported by l a's mayor who has echoed the president calling for

a ban on assault weapons america's long running debate on gun control has been reignited by the need to an elementary school massacre that left twenty six people dead earlier this month. the afghan foreign ministry says the country has lost more than seventy million dollars in taxes its foreign companies linked to nato are avoiding paying their dues last week president karzai slammed the firms accusing them of widespread corruption in the country but political analyst and former afghan m.p. . says the government is equally to blame. what was going on in two thousand and one two thousand and two when the interim authority came to existence and discount tree they signed deals exempting some of these companies who were dealing with need to and i sat and then. many other companies came and started. carpetbagging and backpacking. illegitimate gains and they never paid taxes this is

not new and this government will never have the guts to collect taxes from those rogue companies just an aviation alone. there are dozens and dozens of companies who are bringing passengers and cargo to this country and who are bringing other goods and they have never paid any taxes they've never paid even landing fees in some cases they haven't paid for flight fees this is just aviation and you can imagine in other fields of commerce in. fuel and transportation and logistics and security in other arenas in all areas there are hundreds of millions of dollars every year there are scaping and this government also sometimes gives them some reprieve by reducing their taxes and exchange for bribes. well there are a plenty more stories on our website right now including when prestige doesn't

necessarily mean safe for russian family files a two million dollar lawsuit against bentley blaming a luxury car maker for the death of a relative due to a faulty air bag plus washington plans to hold the whip hand over east asia in the skies by deploying squadrons of stealth warplanes to the region get all the details at r.t. dot com. with the end of the year approaching we continue to look back at the most significant events of twenty twelve today r.t. recaps the launch of a groundbreaking exclusive show hosted by the world's top whistleblower june sanj the program was recorded while the wiki leaks founder was under house arrest in britain and gave voice to some of the most prominent public figures shunned by mainstream media.

it was right on the new year's eve when i went to london to see june to discuss the news so. i'm julie in the sun. it's where she wakes we've exposed the world secret destocking it's been from the very beginning when it became the in high profile show stayed strong with thought of it as a blockbuster so we created this web page with the big video player and video feeds containing trailers sneak peeks most shows tend to have a spike and then go down to both more it's online and you with your kids quietly getting quite a quite a study about it i think the beauty and story says this was quite important because here is the julian assange show gains over a one million visits and views online and believe me or am interesting is show it's kind of an achievement never before that we had anything like that on t.v.

when. the person sitting on the house arrest would be a boy so quite quite a few people around the world whose position of the world doesn't fit in the mainstream you to picture. well it's just gone twenty past twelve here in moscow and in the next couple of minutes artie's onus to bring her take on the wells financial headlines straight from washington stay with us for that. that was. in this remote siberian village people still sing the

songs which russians sang in the media ages and they cherish the practice that our church before the seventeenth century the old believers here is signed area our conservative community here known as the simi skeer a word which refers to families. that have a belief need there yet again i feel. i know i'm the right person to tell you that i was. people here are happy to show their way of life to tourists and teach them how to dance in the local star . use of prayer and the girl needs to watch her legs don't go up too much during the dance she must be a modest. seventeen year old nanda is from the same village she now studies in the city and dances at

a club. she puts on her costume and the traditional amber necklace only when she comes to visit her grandmother. ok i know that. i didn't ask on time for her dad says because i want to keep up to date with this morning world but still i would like to have camp my ground all my sources layered and this is my treasure their attachment to the church brought not just an sisters to this remote lent a stiff leg by call more than two hundred fifty years ago they were exiled and persecuted for not agreeing to the orthodox who forms introducing rushing the sixteen. hundreds they wanted to maintain their time honored rituals dual believers still baal and cross themselves with two fingers not with three as they do in modern orthodox churches in russia and never knew when praying but this fall the

city says it's not so much the rituals they cherish as the moral principles he does not approve of what ninety's doing as a group that the old believe a woman must never show her naked legs and. things started to spoil during the soviet union. was more and more young people leaving big city the fear is the all believers culture could be imperiled nowadays young people prefer urban life to devote their lives to agriculture but it's not necessary to leave it inside israel has to remember that and try to think you know you know if your plans to continue her studies abroad to grandma this says wherever she goes as long as the jews are fresh in her memory so is the creator ok.

good afternoon welcome to capital account i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. these are your headlines for wednesday december nineteenth two thousand and twelve u.b.s. has settled over accusations of libel rigging as expected from reports we received earlier this week but we now know colorful details about the traders call each other nicknames like superman and captain chaos which was spelled wrong by the way that's according to the wall street journal now we don't know that color from the federal reserve and its manipulation of rates but that is no coincidence we'll talk to a former v.p. of public affairs at the federal reserve bank of cleveland about what is lost in fed speak plus. the treasury department announced it plans to sell its entire stake in g.m. within fifteen months according to the new york times a reminder of the bailouts in two thousand and eight of course but instead of government bailouts how about innovating out of

a slowdown or changing your business model we'll talk to the c.e.o. of car to go north america about dialers adventure in car sharing and from new revenue to no revenue c.b.s. reports instagram is looking for ways to generate some revenue through ads but it will not pimp out its users in ads it back tracked after unleashing a whole bunch of hoopla yesterday after a change to its terms we'll talk about it let's get to today's capital account. so in addition to the one point five billion dollars settlement and guilty plea to a charge of fraud from its japanese subsidiary we now know u.b.s. traders were sending e-mails saying things like i want to do one humongous deal

with you when i'll pay you whatever you want to secure help manipulating rates now this language is infuriating but at least it's way more straightforward than what we get from this same rate manipulator the fed now despite ben bernanke in the past suggesting the central bank could do a better job of communicating with the public we still hear a prevalence of fed speak in need of translation here is some. well that circumstance the committee would no longer be increasing the policy accommodation its policy stance would remain highly supportive of growth finally the committee today also modified its guidance about future rate policy to provide more information to the public about how it dissipates or react to evolving economic conditions. not exactly common language and translating fed changes in language gives rise to questions like this here's a tweet from a reporter what does the beige book change from moderate to modest growth mean now

i spoke to james savage earlier he with v.p. of public affairs at the cleveland fed from two thousand and eight to two thousand and eleven i now he runs a company building and managing corporate reputations which is why lately he's been thinking a lot about the fed's missteps so the whole reputation angle of the fed and the efforts the fed has undertaken to better communicate really have been resonating with me lately and so we've seen a few struggles in misfires out there and i think that's why we're here today yeah so before we get into some of those let's just talk about the importance of communication for the fed we know that it is extremely important for the fed is it as important as the fed actually monetary policy because the fed can print but attitude and expectations about the economy and the fed abilities are what can cause people to actually lever up and.